About Film Screenings

The Cabin in the Woods premiere, courtesy Michael Buckner

Every March, our acclaimed Film Program draws thousands of fans, filmmakers, press and industry leaders to Austin, TX to immerse in some of the most innovative, smart and entertaining new films around.

Browse through the categories below to see what our program is built from; click on a category heading to see examples of each category from our 2012 program.

FEATURE FILM CATEGORIES

Narrative Feature Competition


Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from over 1200 films submitted to SXSW 2013

Documentary Feature Competition


Selected from over 900 submissions, the eight world premieres in the Documentary Feature category bring real world stories to life, demonstrating innovation, energy and bold voices

Headliners


Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres & gala film events with major & rising names in cinema.

Narrative Spotlight


Shining a light on new narrative features receiving World, North American or U.S. Premieres.

Documentary Spotlight


New documentary features receiving World, North American or U.S. Premieres.

Visions


Visions (previously Emerging Visions) filmmakers are audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape demonstrate raw innovation & creativity in documentary & narrative filmmaking.

Midnighters


Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally curious.

24 Beats Per Second


Showcasing the sounds, culture & influence of music & musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.

SXGlobal


A diverse selection of International filmmaking talent, featuring innovative narratives, artful documentaries, premieres, festival favorites and more.

Festival Favorites


Acclaimed standouts & selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.

Special Events


Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues & much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected & unique film event one-offs.

SHORT FILM CATEGORIES

Narrative Shorts

A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling.

Documentary Shorts

Unfiltered slices of life, from across the documentary spectrum.

Animated Shorts

An assortment of stories told using a mix of traditional animation, computer-generated effects, stop-motion, and everything in-between.

Midnight Shorts

Bite-sized bits for all of your sex, gore, and hilarity needs.

Music Videos

A range of classic, innovative, and stylish work showcasing the scope of music video culture.

Texas High School Shorts

A preview of the next filmmaking generation, as Texas High Schoolers present shorts of 5 minutes or less.